That First Kiss Thing
by storytellergirl
Summary: It's all about the swoop factor.


**Disclaimer: Marvel owns pretty much everything here except for the plot.**

**Title: **That First Kiss Thing

**Author: **Storytellergirl

**Characters: **St. John Allerdyce Pyro, Jubilation Lee Jubilee

**Genre: **Humor/Romance

**Setting: **Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters; between X1 and X2.

**That First Kiss Thing**

_Click snap. Click snap. Click snap. _

Jubilee could feel a twitch developing in her eye at every new click-snap sound echoing throughout the room. For the past hour, scratch that, for the past _two_ hours she had been listening to the click and snap of a lighter belonging to none other than the resident pyromaniac. Now, on any other occasion the Asian-American teen would have opened her mouth and told Pyro to get lost and leave her in peace, but this time was different…well, maybe not so much different as complicated. The pair were currently sitting in detention, and leaving wasn't exactly on the menu until noon sharp…and at present it was only…nine oh one.

_Click snap. Click snap. Click snap._

Letting out a groan Jubilee turned around in her seat to face the teen boy behind her clicking away with his lighter. Pyro lifted his eyebrows in mock surprise, a questioning look upon his face as he received a dark glare from Jubilee. He seemed to be asking what the problem was, but a mischievous grin appeared on his face as Jubilee turned back around, her back as stiff as a board. Pyro waited a couple of minutes before opening his lighter and snapping it back shut again, the rhythm of the sound soothing his bored mind. In front of him he could see Jubilee bristling, making him grin even wider.

_Click snap. Click snap. Click snap._

"If you don't stop that this instant I'm going to light you up like the Fourth of July, Firefly." Jubilee's words were spoken with a hint of venom as she turned around once more.

"You make that sound like a threat, Firecracker," replied Pyro as he leaned back in his seat, halting the snap-clicks of his lighter.

"It is," shot back Jubilee.

"And we both remember what happened the last time you threatened me, don't we?"

"Yeah, that'd be kind of why I'm in here with you—because turning the Pyro into a fireworks display isn't allowed." Jubilee seemed to sulk as she said this, making Pyro frown.

"Ha. Ha."

"You know this wouldn't have happened if you had just let me cut your hair like I had planned, but no-o-o-o, you decided to try and set me on fire."

Pyro shot forward in his seat, pointing an accusing finger in the face of the raven haired girl. His face had paled even as it had developed a menacing look. "You weren't trying to cut my hair, Firecracker—you were trying to shave it all off! What the hell was I supposed to do? Sit by and let you scar me for life?"

"Oh please, I wasn't going to shave it all off, I was only going to trim it. I'll have you know that I'm pretty handy with scissors. I've given haircuts million of times," stated Jubilee with a roll of her eyes. Pyro was being rather silly over the whole thing in her own opinion. The poor boy had freaked out the moment she had pulled the scissors out of her dresser drawer—she still swore up and down that he had actually had tears in her eyes before he tried to open his lighter and set her aflame. Naturally Jubilee had been faster and had used her powers first, causing Pyro to bump into the wall trying to dodge the fireworks at his feet. That had only resulted in him dropping his Zippo and both teens diving to the ground to retrieve it. By the time Scott had burst into the room the wrestling match was over and Pyro was pinned beneath Jubilee who had the Zippo held up in the air with a single hand, and fireworks fizzing in the other one. It had been more than enough of a reason to give the pair Saturday detention for a whole month. Again.

"Besides," she continued with a more flippant air about her, "I've given _loads_ of haircuts before."

"You mean like last summer when you single handedly ruined everyone's lives? Jubes, you shaved off one side of Bobby's head, singed Theresa's with a curling iron so that she had to cut all her hair off, and you even managed to dye Cyke's hair blue when you were supposed to be trimming it. Hear that, _trimming it._ I'm not stupid, Firecracker. I know how you work. You were going to destroy my hair and make me look like a freak," retorted Pyro with a shake of his head. "And no way no how am I letting you do that. You're not allowed to touch my hair ever again, got that?"

"You're such a baby, Py-Py. That was _last_ summer, this is _this_ summer; you have to have a little faith in me."

"Yes, because you and scissors are a great combination. If I remember correctly Storm's had to hide most of the scissors in the house because of the year you tried cutting her hair."

"Eh, minor details."

Pyro narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but decided not to say anything more on the subject. The truth of the matter was that he was deathly afraid of the Asian-American when she had scissors in her hands. Most people would be stupid not to be afraid. The only one not afraid of Jubilee in those cases seemed to be Rogue, but that was probably because Jubilee herself was more afraid of the southerner than she let on. Pyro couldn't blame her if that was the case. Rogue had powers to kill; screwing up her hair was probably pretty close to a death wish.

"Yeah, well some of us don't want to look like a freak."

Jubilee snorted. "Whatever. I'd be doing the female population of our school a favor if I made you look like a freak, Pyro. Not everyone should be swooning every time you walk into the room. You're not god's gift to womankind, trust me."

"You're just jealous 'because I don't give you the time of day."

"Be still my beating heart."

Jubilee turned back around in her seat, dutifully ignoring the tongue Pyro had childishly stuck out at her. Silence took over, though only because Pyro didn't feel like playing with his lighter anymore. He knew for a fact that he could only piss Jubilee off for so long before she started throwing fireworks at him again. She was used to detention, okay, so Pyro was used to detention too. They spent quite a bit of their free time in it as a result of fighting with one another.

Pyro had never quite understood why it was that he and Jubilee fought so much. It had never made much sense before. Since the moment they had first met they had been at each other's throats, possibly because they were more alike than either one liked to let on, but that was an entirely different story. Either way, he still didn't trust her with a pair of scissors. At the thought of that Pyro reached up to touch his own head of hair, frowning as he studied the back of Jubilee's head. He knew for a fact she'd make him look like a clown or something, and then his reputation would go downhill after that…well, the little reputation he had for himself considering he wasn't very friendly with anyone other than Bobby and Rogue, and Jubilee on occasion. Everyone else wasn't worth his time, so he had never bothered with any of them. While some of the girls at school seemed to have crushes on him the majority of them thought he was a jerk, which he was, but that was beside the point. Pyro had never really had a girlfriend before, nor had he ever kissed anyone believe it or not. Of course no one knew this little piece of information about him…

An idea began to form in Pyro's head as he continued to stare at Jubilee's back. She was pretty. Okay, maybe a little more than pretty when she wasn't trying to kill him. Actually, Jubilee was pretty hot if Pyro thought about it long enough. During the summers he liked to admire her at the pool—she had legs that seemed to go on for miles, and bikinis really didn't do the girl justice. It was also a plus that she was a martial artist. She trained for an hour every day in the gym, and that not only kept her in shape, but it had also given her a very scary black belt to show around when people pissed her off and her powers were on the fritz. And she didn't dress like any of the other girls at school. Jubilee had seemed to invent her own unique style that only she could get away with.

Of course it wasn't just looks that Jubilee had. She was pretty funny—and she lived for adventure. How many pranks had she pulled off and on over the years on the entire student body of Xavier's, and how many teachers had she tortured? Jubilee didn't know when to stop, she had broken more rules than was possible, and it was probably because of her more rules had been invented. She pushed things to the limit, which Pyro himself was pretty fond of doing as well. If they didn't fight so much they'd actually be a pretty good team...which meant they'd probably be pretty hot as a couple too, right?

Clearing his throat, Pyro asked. "Hey Firecracker, you ever kissed a guy before?"

"Nope." Jubilee didn't bother turning around to glance at Pyro. He was trying to rile her up again, she just knew it. But she wasn't going to let him. Not this time.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm saving myself."

"Saving yourself? What are you? In training to become a nun?"

"Whatever."

"No, really, you haven't kissed anyone before?" Pyro tried to keep the laughter out of his voice; it was rather amusing to think that Jubilee hadn't been kissed before either. She had dated around plenty if Bobby, Piotr, Doug, Kevin, and Roberto were any indication.

"I kind of already said that, Py-Py. I told you, I'm saving myself."

"For who?"

"Brad Pitt." This time Jubilee had to turn around to see how Pyro would react. She grinned at the open mouthed expression he gave her.

"Brad Pitt?"

"Uh-huh. He's not married to whatsherface yet, so I still have a chance for him to show up on our doorstep to sweep me off my feet and give me that first kiss."

"Brad Pitt?"

"You're starting to sound like a broken record, Py. Oh, and if you keep your mouth open too long you'll only wind up with a million flies in your mouth. So not hot." She didn't bat an eye at her own words, though she didn't like admitting out loud to Pyro that she thought him easy on the eyes or anything like that. His ego was big enough as it was; she didn't want to contribute to making it the size of the Grand Canyon.

"But…but…he's old!"

"And _hot._"

"And old. He has kids."

"So? I can deal with kids if it means being the next Mrs. Pitt."

"That's just gross," muttered Pyro.

"This coming from the guy who was in love with Britney Spears for three years of his life."

"Hey, that's old news. I've moved on."

"Paris Hilton isn't any better."

"Oh, and Brad Pitt is?"

"Duh. He goes around fighting poverty and whatnot, and has looks to boot—oh, and he's actually a pretty decent actor. Of course he's better." Jubilee gave a roll of her eyes. Obviously Pyro had never watched Ocean's Eleven or Troy. She'd have to drag him around to watch a movie with her later so he could discover the wonders of Brad Pitt.

Pyro made a face. "He's out of your league."

"No, no. He _is_ my league. Why do you think I've sworn off dating guys at the mansion? After Bobby and Roberto I've decided to set my standards for guys with a little more swoop factor."

"Swoop factor?"

"Yeah, you know, like guys who can leave me breathless, speechless, starry eyed…that kind of stuff. The swoop factor."

"You've been reading too many books again, haven't you?"

"Oh gross. I don't read unless I have to. That's just stuff I've seen in the movies. So Brad Pitt is attainable. I'm not. At least not around here." Jubilee shrugged as though it weren't a big deal. After the last few boyfriend disasters she had decided dating someone you live with just wasn't a good idea since you had to see them day in and day out, and if they were still mad about being dumped they tried to show off their new girlfriend to you day in and day out…and considering Jubilee had done all the dumping, she was pretty much convinced she wasn't going to find a guy with the swoop factor at the mansion.

Pyro was quiet for a minute. "That's just stupid."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"Uh-huh, and just how many girls have you kissed, Pyro? Or dated?"

"What are you talking about? I've kissed plenty of girls," replied the pyromaniac disdainfully.

Jubilee grinned. "That's not what your journal says."

Pyro felt his eyes widen. "You didn't."

"Oh but I did. Really, Pyro, you've got to find a better hiding place for it than in your underwear drawer. That's an easy guess."

"You're evil, you know that?"

"Doesn't change the facts, babe. You've kissed just as many people as me: none, but I'm the one who's actually dated around. You haven't."

"Maybe I'm saving myself."

"Really now, for who? Nicole Kidman? She's married."

"No, for someone else."

"One of the Olsen twins?"

"No." Pyro was losing patience if his strained voice was any indication. Jubilee was having fun making fun of him, and he didn't like that one bit.

"Madonna?"

Moving quickly Pyro stood and leaned across the table, an arm going behind Jubilee's head to pull her forward, crushing his lips to hers. It wasn't exactly as suave as he had been going for in his head three minutes ago, but he had a feeling the raven haired teen could go all day naming people until he gave his corner answer slash plea to get a kiss out of her. At least this way he got her to shut up and get a little something out of it himself.

Jubilee was surprised to say the least, but that didn't stop her from responding to the kiss. It wasn't quite like she had imagined, especially since she had imagined Brad Pitt and a candlelight dinner, but this was a close second. The kiss was gentle and clean. No tongue or slobber anywhere, something Jubilee had heard was pretty common with most guys for their first time, but Pyro didn't seem to be like that…and as the kiss progressed Jubilee had to admit there was something there. She wasn't quite sure what that something was, but it was enough to give her stomach butterflies and leave her in a daze as Pyro slowly pulled away. The room was silent for several minutes as both teens stared at one another, neither one saying anything; Pyro was silent just in case Jubilee was working her way into a frenzy to kill him, and Jubilee was silent trying to figure out if the kiss had just happened.

"So," started Pyro after another minute passed. He raised an eyebrow in question at the teen girl before him, waiting for her to say or do anything at this point.

"So," repeated Jubilee slowly.

"How was that for your 'swoop factor'?"

"I don't know. I think you'll need to try again just to be sure."

Pyro didn't need to be asked twice. With a small grin he leaned forward once more to capture Jubilee's lips with his own, basking in the knowledge that she seemed to meet him halfway this time around. He did have one regret, and that was the fact that the desk was still very much in between them, making it hard to get closer to Jubilee. Instead Pyro had to satisfy himself with cupping the back of her neck with his hands just as hers made their way to his arms.

"Ahem."

Jubilee and Pyro hopped apart at the male voice, both turning in the direction of the doorway where Scott stood with his arms folded across his chest. Jubilee blushed as Pyro rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

Scott spoke first. "The Professor wants to see you two, something about a new rule."

"Right, don't want to keep the Professor waiting, huh, Firecracker?"

"Nope, not at all." Jubilee gave Scott a wide grin as she and Pyro made their way to the door, stepping out into the hallway as quickly as possible. They didn't bother looking back at their teacher as the moved down the hallway, Pyro's hand reaching for Jubilee's to pull her along behind him.

Scott watched the pair go until they had disappeared from sight, shaking his head with a ghost of a smile on his face. "Should've known."

As they walked hand in hand Pyro gave Jubilee a sideways glance as another idea formed in his mind. "Hey, Firecracker, you ever have sex before?"

"Don't _even _think about it, Firefly," warned Jubilee sternly.

"What? It's just a question. I mean, now that you're my girlfriend and all we should probably be thinking about this stuff, you know?"

"Girlfriend? Whoever said anything about me being your girlfriend?" demanded the raven haired girl.

"Well, you _did_ kiss me back," replied Pyro impishly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm your girlfriend."

"No? Huh, you should've said so like ten seconds ago 'because I just told the Professor in my head and asked him to tell Bobby…in ten minutes the whole school's going to know about us."

Jubilee opened her mouth to protest, but no words came out. She allowed Pyro to keep tugging her along in the direction of the Professor's office, trying to get words to come out, but with each silent phrase Pyro only grinned wider.

"You know, Jubes, I'm starting to like this Swoop Factor of yours."


End file.
